Larkspur Road (34 page)

“If I’d left it for Alicia, she might’ve had better luck in her marriage. Maybe they’d have stayed together, been happy….”

“It’s only a quilt, Aunt Winny. An extremely beautiful one,” Mia added, “but still a quilt. It’s not magical and nothing could have changed my grandfather’s nature.
He
was responsible for deserting Gram, not your taking this quilt away.”

“I know that. I do. But I never should’ve…” Winny stopped herself, straightened her shoulders. “What’s done is done,” she said half to herself.

Then she stared Mia in the eye. “I want you to have it and I don’t want any arguments. Take care of it. Maybe you’ll marry that handsome Travis Tanner and keep it safe and pretty on your bed for the next sixty years or so.”

“Aunt Winny—”

“That’s all I’m saying.” Her aunt held up a strong, imperious hand, whimsically painted in a bright lime hue. “You just keep it safe. You won’t be seeing another one like it anytime soon. And don’t thank me, whatever you do.”

A rush of emotion swamped Mia. This quilt had passed through the hands of countless women in her family. It was an heirloom, a one-of-a-kind treasure she’d never thought to see. She could hardly wait to show it to Brittany and Sam.

“I’m so grateful it’s here. That’s all
I’ll
say,” she added
with a laugh as Winny shot her a warning glance. “You know, I’d love to display it at the fund-raiser. Everyone in Lonesome Way would enjoy seeing it. And it would definitely be one of the oldest quilts there. An oldie but goodie,” she said softly. “Would that be all right with you, Aunt Winny?”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Winny muttered gruffly, “but I like the idea. And I think Alicia would like it, too.”

Mia reached over, clasped her hand. “I’m sure Gram has forgiven you, Aunt Winny. Now it’s time for you to forgive yourself.”

“Working on it.”

“Good. You’ll stay for supper?”

“Depends.” A faint smile touched her eyes, then spread down to the corners of her lips. “What’s on the menu?”

“Meat loaf and mashed potatoes. Green beans and salad. Apple pie for dessert. Travis is coming with Grady. Britt will be joining us, too.”

Now that the threat of Wade Collins was gone, Samantha had dropped her insistence that Britt come home to Butte as soon as possible. She and Alec had driven to Lonesome Way, and she’d hugged and kissed her daughter, shown Britt and Mia photos of her honeymoon, stayed over two nights, and then relented—allowing Britt to remain at Mia’s until at least after the fund-raiser.

“We’ll have a party,” Mia continued, smiling at Winny. “A good luck wedding quilt party.”

“I don’t like parties. Never did,” her aunt responded bluntly. “But I’ll stay. Only because of that apple pie.” But Mia saw the glimmer of humor in her eyes and, for no reason at all, she put her arms around her aunt and hugged her tightly, the wedding quilt smushed between them.

“We’re having a real family dinner, Aunt Winny,” Mia whispered. “I bet Gram would like that. Very much.”

“Well, imagine that. Less than an hour to go and the sun’s still out. That rain’s holding off, thank goodness.” Martha Davies bustled toward Mia in the small, brightly lit side room of the Lonesome Way Public Library, where Mia was stationed to supervise the special exhibition of fragile older quilts.

The good luck wedding quilt was among nine others considered vintage quilts, displayed with special care and attention inside the library.

The weather forecast for the quilt fund-raiser had been foreboding all week, but by some miracle, the day had dawned sunny and the clouds in the west had shown no inclination to drift closer.

So far so good
, Mia thought, watching several older women pause to admire Gram’s butterfly quilt and then the good luck wedding quilt, both carefully presented on hanging racks.

The small sign beside the butterfly quilt showed a grainy
black-and-white photo of Gram with the quilt draped across her arms at age seventeen, the year she’d made it. The sign also noted Gram’s name, the date the quilt had been sewn, and the fact that Alicia Rae Sullivan had won first place at the tri-county Fourth of July fair.

“I’m your replacement—you’ve been shut up in here long enough,” Martha announced, sweeping toward Mia at the small rectangular table. “Go on out and have some ice cream while you have the chance. Before you know it, you’ll be up on that podium announcing the grand total.”

“Is there still a nice-sized crowd?” Mia asked as a very pregnant Deanna Mueller wandered past the doorway, browsing the quilts displayed in the main room of the library.

“You’d better believe it. In the last hour and a half just about everyone in town has shown up. And most everyone’s sticking around to see how much money we’ve raised. Should be a tidy sum, especially now that the community quilt’s been raffled off.” Martha’s big silver hoop earrings swung wildly as she nodded in satisfaction. “A caravan of folks from Livingston and some more from Billings came by a few hours ago. A few of the women chatted with Karla—real excited to see our quilts. Said they might want to do an ice cream social with their exhibition next year, too. But,” Martha added, “it’s time you got back out there to see for yourself. Spend a little more time with your sister and niece—Samantha
did
come all the way from Butte, didn’t she?”

It was true. Sam and Alec had driven in for the day to attend the exhibition. They would spend the night at Mia’s house and then take Britt home with them in the morning. At Britt’s pleading, Sam had agreed that her daughter could still drive in to work at A Bun in the Oven, but only weekends for the rest of the summer, giving her a chance to see Seth and to spend the night at either Mia’s house or Jackie Kenton’s.

It had been wonderful having lunch outside with Britt, Sam, and Alec, drinking strawberry lemonade from paper cups while the sun poured down and the Lonesome Way High School marching band serenaded the crowd.

Travis had invited Samantha, Britt, Alec, and Aunt Winny, as well as Sophie and Rafe, Lissie and Tommy, and all the kids, back to his cabin for a big barbecue tonight under the stars. Though if the weather acted up, as expected, he’d be forced to move everything indoors.

Winny had been particularly surprised—and pleased—to be included. But nowhere near as surprised as Mia had been when she learned that her crusty aunt had volunteered to help sell tickets to the quilt exhibition outside the library entrance today.

If she isn’t careful, Winona Pruitt might become a real honest-to-goodness force to be reckoned with in this town,
Mia thought in amusement as she made her way through the main room of the library, past the vivid array of beautiful quilts draped across tables and chairs. She was thrilled to see how many people were roaming through the main room, knowing every one of them had made a donation before coming inside to view the quilts. More than a dozen quilts had been raffled off, among them Mia’s Starry Night quilt.

With any luck the total proceeds this year would top those from last year. The Loving Arms shelter needed every penny Bits and Pieces could raise.

Stepping outside, she peered at the crush of people. It looked like almost half the town was gathered near or around the library, in the parking lot, and across the grassy picnic area, or lined up for the ice cream cones and sundaes all donated by Lickety Split.

The high school marching band still played, drums and trumpets blaring, adding color and noise to the celebratory atmosphere.

And the sun was still out. But she noticed with a thrum
of unease that some dark clouds were moving in. The sky was subtly changing, darkening to a hue more gray than blue.

Damn.

Automatically she glanced around to see if Travis and Grady were anywhere in sight. A little wave of disappointment pinged inside her as she failed to spot them even though she knew exactly where they were and why they weren’t here.

Travis had stopped by this morning while she was helping set up the quilts and told her he and Grady would need to spend a good portion of the afternoon back at the cabin preparing for the barbecue.

We’ll have the whole evening to be together,
she reminded herself as she spotted Lissie strolling toward her. Molly, adorable in a ruffly yellow top and matching shorts, toddled at her side, clutching a small plastic spoon and a cup of melting ice cream.

“You need to try the Crazy Mountain Caramel Hot Fudge Sundae,” Lissie informed her without preamble as Mia knelt down to give Molly a kiss on the cheek. “Best. Sundae. Ever.”

“Bestiss!” Molly added, nodding vehemently.

“You’ve talked me into it, both of you.” But the words were scarcely out of her mouth before Karla McDonald’s voice flowed out from the loudspeaker.

“Can I have your attention, please? Due to the quickly changing weather, and the latest forecast, we’ve decided to move up the final ceremony and to begin taking down the quilts displayed outdoors. At precisely five o’clock we’ll make the announcement of our grand total. So if anyone wishes to make a further donation or purchase a quilt, this is the time to do it,” she told the crowd. “I need Becky Hall and Mia Quinn to join me at the podium in ten minutes.”

A ripple of anticipation ran through everyone on the library grounds. People began to glance at the sky and to
gravitate toward the raised platform twenty feet from the entrance, where the final tally would be revealed.

“Too bad those clouds didn’t hold off for another hour,” Mia muttered, scanning the increasingly darkening sky with trepidation. “You haven’t seen Travis and Grady back yet, have you?” she asked as Molly held out a spoonful of melted ice cream to her. She took a lick. “Yum. Thanks, sweetie. That’s delicious.”

“Car-mel. Da-wicious.” The little girl grinned.

Lissie shook her head. “Travis and Grady? Haven’t seen ’em. Guess they’re still setting up for tonight. Or more likely, starting to move everything indoors as fast as they can.”

A speculative sparkle gleamed suddenly from her eyes as Mia turned toward the podium. “Wait a sec. Since you brought up the subject of my brother…and if you don’t mind my asking…care to share where things between you two are headed these days?”

“Oh, no, don’t you start, too.” Mia brushed off the question with a laugh.

But she had to admit that she sometimes found herself wondering the same thing. The truth was, she had no idea where things were headed with Travis.

She only knew one thing. That she loved him more than she’d ever thought possible. And that when they were together, everything somehow seemed to fall into place. Her heart felt whole. Her world happier than she ever remembered.

Did she want a home with Travis and Grady? A baby or two—or maybe three? Cribs and bunk beds, squabbles and homework, birthday candles to blow out and holidays to be celebrated around that big table in the cabin’s kitchen? A table built to be laden with food, flanked by family, the heart and center of a home…

Yes.
She dreamed of all that. And more. With her whole heart she dreamed of it.

But she knew Grady was making a lot of adjustments right now. In the course of little over a month he’d gone from
visiting his father for the summer to living with him full-time. He and Travis deserved some father-son time now—alone time. A chance to deepen their bond, to make this transition to living together full-time as smooth and comfortable as possible.

There’s no rush,
Mia had told herself. No need to plan, or spell everything out, put a name to it. She and Travis knew how they felt and they would wait…and see….

“There you are! Mia, Karla needs you. She and Becky are about to have a meltdown.” Sophie hurried breathlessly toward them, Rafe striding alongside, a chubby-cheeked Aiden snug in his muscular arms. Mia marveled that Sophie looked almost as fresh as she had at the start of the day, her toffee-colored hair swept up in a loose tail, her green eyes bright and glowing.

“Someone heard it’s already raining in Big Timber,” Sophie said. “Panic is setting in onstage.”

“I’m going up there right now.” As if to punctuate the words, a low rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. The sky was changing before their eyes to an ominous shade of charcoal. “Can you two pitch in and help take down some of the outdoor quilts? Rafe, maybe you can watch the kids?”

“You’ve got it,” Rafe told her.

“See you guys at the cabin later,” Mia called over her shoulder, sprinting toward the platform.

A slight, ominous wind began to rustle along the library grounds.

Mia ran faster. She passed Ivy Tanner and her best friends, Shannon and Val, laughing with some boys near the scattering marching band. Spotted Aunt Winny in a bright violet top and khaki pants working desperately alongside Evelyn Lewis, the Bits and Pieces recording secretary, to gather up quilts.

Rain could move in quicker than a gunshot in Montana. She only prayed they could finish the ceremony before everyone watching got soaked.

As she rushed up the steps of the platform she saw Martha hurrying in the same direction from the library. Becky Hall was already up there, staring nervously as members of the group and other volunteers snatched quilts from their displays and ran inside with them as the crowd pressed forward, everyone looking eager and expectant in between uneasy glances at the sky.